Thieves cut hole in roof at Kelowna Curling Club in elaborate break-in, theft - BERITAJA

The Kelowna Curling Club is reeling successful the aftermath of an elaborate break-in and theft that has near it pinch thousands of dollars successful damage.

“It hurts my psyche to cognize that location are group doing this benignant of damage,” said Jock Tyre, wide head of the Kelowna Curling Club.

Suspects collapsed into the Recreation Avenue installation successful the downtown’s northbound extremity early Monday morning, but it’s the lengths they went to to get successful that is about shocking,

“This isn’t conscionable homelessness, this isn’t supplier addiction. This is something. This is simply a existent criminal who planned this out,” Tyre told BERITAJA.

The culprits, astatine slightest 2 of them, climbed up onto the roof.

They trim a barbed ligament on the measurement and past a spread successful the roof.

“They evidently had a sawzall to trim done the roof, dropping down into the ceiling,” Tyre said.

According to Tyre, the suspects past crawled about 40 aliases truthful feet earlier removing ceiling panels to get inside, wherever they damaged an ATM successful an effort to entree cash.

“They ripped the apical disconnected which is wherever each the machine portion was and past they trim down the side,” Tyre said.

Part of the break-in was caught connected information video, which shows ceiling panels falling to the crushed and 1 of the suspects connected apical of the ATM.

While successful the extremity they were incapable to entree the money, they did bargain 5 iPads and hundreds of dollars worthy of alcohol, immoderate of which they dropped connected the measurement out.

“I deliberation that astatine a definite constituent it was conscionable excessively overmuch weight for them to carry,” Tyre said. “Because you’re crawling done a four-foot space, done the ceiling, getting done the joists and everything and past hauling it up a two-foot spread up onto the roof.”

Tyre said whoever is responsible knew wherever they were going and apt checked retired the premises successful advance.

“Probably personification came successful during the trade show aliases the location show and cased it out,” Tyre said.

The incident is not the first of its kind. In 2024, thieves utilized a rooftop hatch to break into the building and bargain merchandise.

Police are now asking for the public’s thief successful identifying the suspects progressive successful the latest break-in aliases travel guardant pinch immoderate accusation to beforehand the investigation.

Tyre said the installation has mobility sensors connected each doors and windows and moreover that wasn’t capable to forestall a break-in.

“We thought we were beautiful good covered. But unfortunately, the size of the curling nine is 40,000 quadrate feet of roofing up there,” Tyre said. “I don’t cognize really we could protect from that.”

One measurement the nine has already taken is the imperishable removal of on-site ATMs to region that arsenic a imaginable inducement for immoderate early break-ins.